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  3. #1 reason to not use Outlook

#1 reason to not use Outlook

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  • T Offline
    T Offline
    Todd C Wilson
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    "At some point, keystroke recorders got installed on several machines at Valve. Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. This recorder is apparently a customized version of RemoteAnywhere created to infect Valve (at least it hasn't been seen anywhere else, and isn't detected by normal virus scanning tools)." -- Gabe Newell, talking about the Half-Life 2 source code leak. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everyone STILL insisting on using a product that is so overwhelmingly prone to mis-use. Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most.


    Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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    • T Todd C Wilson

      "At some point, keystroke recorders got installed on several machines at Valve. Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. This recorder is apparently a customized version of RemoteAnywhere created to infect Valve (at least it hasn't been seen anywhere else, and isn't detected by normal virus scanning tools)." -- Gabe Newell, talking about the Half-Life 2 source code leak. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everyone STILL insisting on using a product that is so overwhelmingly prone to mis-use. Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most.


      Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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      73Zeppelin
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      What are the alternatives? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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      • 7 73Zeppelin

        What are the alternatives? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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        Daniel Turini
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        You are kidding, right?


        Help me dominate the world - click this link and my army will grow

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        • D Daniel Turini

          You are kidding, right?


          Help me dominate the world - click this link and my army will grow

          7 Offline
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          73Zeppelin
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Yes and no. For those who work for companies, I was wondering what they use as alternatives to Outlook. We use Outlook at my current workplace, for example. Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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          • D Daniel Turini

            You are kidding, right?


            Help me dominate the world - click this link and my army will grow

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            T Offline
            Todd C Wilson
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Given the current state of affairs with users, and the stellar use of a shirt-sleeve to clean up a coffee spill, I would suspect that his attitude is probably quite prevelant within most offices. "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM using Outlook". Wanna bet?


            Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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            • 7 73Zeppelin

              Yes and no. For those who work for companies, I was wondering what they use as alternatives to Outlook. We use Outlook at my current workplace, for example. Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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              Todd C Wilson
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              SMTP is a standard. Surely you know that, right?


              Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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              • T Todd C Wilson

                Given the current state of affairs with users, and the stellar use of a shirt-sleeve to clean up a coffee spill, I would suspect that his attitude is probably quite prevelant within most offices. "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM using Outlook". Wanna bet?


                Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                73Zeppelin
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                The shirt-sleeve clean up was a novel idea, wasn't it?? :-D To be honest, I hate MS Outlook and don't use it at all for my personal email account. This just happens to be the company's solution to email... John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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                • T Todd C Wilson

                  SMTP is a standard. Surely you know that, right?


                  Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                  73Zeppelin
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Yes. :rolleyes: I'm starting to regret replying to this thread.... :sigh: John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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                  • 7 73Zeppelin

                    Yes and no. For those who work for companies, I was wondering what they use as alternatives to Outlook. We use Outlook at my current workplace, for example. Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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                    Navin
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    In your case, if you have a corporate standard, it will depend on your sys admin people. I had the same problem in my last job.. but the admin let me use Pegasus Mail since the server was a regular SMTP server. And it seemed to work pretty well in most cases. If you guys have the whole shebang, with an Exchange server, group features, etc., it will be much harder to switch. There are alternatives. AT home I use my ISP's web-based e-mail. I am starting to like web-based e-mail clients much more... you don't have to install an application, your machine is less prone to problems, unless an e-mail takes advantage of a browser security hole or you download a file, you're safe. At work at my current company we use an ancient version of Lotus Notes. Yes, it sucks in many ways, but it seems pretty secure, and if you can navigate the quagmire of the user interface, you can all you need. We'll be upgrading soon to a version that has a Web-based client, and I'll probably start using that when they roll it out. The only problem with web-based clients is that AFAIK you can't set up IE to use a web based e-mail when you click on a "mailto:" hyperlink. I've also heard good things about Eudora, but never personally used it. If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.

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                    • 7 73Zeppelin

                      The shirt-sleeve clean up was a novel idea, wasn't it?? :-D To be honest, I hate MS Outlook and don't use it at all for my personal email account. This just happens to be the company's solution to email... John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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                      Todd C Wilson
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      John Theal wrote: This just happens to be the company's solution to email... Only if they are using Exchange and are not using the SMTP/IMAP server abilities of Exchange - that is, using Microsoft's lock-in solution. Otherwise, then it is not the only solution, and for you own safety, you would be wise to look at other products.


                      Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                      • T Todd C Wilson

                        "At some point, keystroke recorders got installed on several machines at Valve. Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. This recorder is apparently a customized version of RemoteAnywhere created to infect Valve (at least it hasn't been seen anywhere else, and isn't detected by normal virus scanning tools)." -- Gabe Newell, talking about the Half-Life 2 source code leak. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everyone STILL insisting on using a product that is so overwhelmingly prone to mis-use. Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most.


                        Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                        Rutger Ellen
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        if it's like smoking I am waiting for an opportunity to sue like smokers do :);P

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                        • T Todd C Wilson

                          "At some point, keystroke recorders got installed on several machines at Valve. Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. This recorder is apparently a customized version of RemoteAnywhere created to infect Valve (at least it hasn't been seen anywhere else, and isn't detected by normal virus scanning tools)." -- Gabe Newell, talking about the Half-Life 2 source code leak. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everyone STILL insisting on using a product that is so overwhelmingly prone to mis-use. Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most.


                          Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                          Michael P Butler
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Todd C. Wilson wrote: Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. So is this an new exploit or did they just forgot to install a patch? You'd think Valve would know about patches... there were enough of them for half-life ;-) I don't know much about the RemoteAnywhere exploit but surely a well configured firewall would prevent it. It seems to me that Valve got done because of lax security and are just trying to deflect the blame - much like we all do when we get stung. Michael 'Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.' - The Doctor: The Wheel in Space

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                          • R Rutger Ellen

                            if it's like smoking I am waiting for an opportunity to sue like smokers do :);P

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                            Michael P Butler
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            Do you live in California[^] Michael 'Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.' - The Doctor: The Wheel in Space

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                            • 7 73Zeppelin

                              Yes and no. For those who work for companies, I was wondering what they use as alternatives to Outlook. We use Outlook at my current workplace, for example. Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? John Theal Physicist/Mathematical Programmer Digital Immersion Software Corporation Got CAD? http://www.presenter3d.com[^]

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                              David Crow
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              John Theal wrote: Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? Other folks in my company use Lotus Notes, probably because we are an IBM shop and our e-mail server is a Domino box. I use Outlook and have no plans on changing.


                              Five birds are sitting on a fence. Three of them decide to fly off. How many are left?

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                              • D David Crow

                                John Theal wrote: Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? Other folks in my company use Lotus Notes, probably because we are an IBM shop and our e-mail server is a Domino box. I use Outlook and have no plans on changing.


                                Five birds are sitting on a fence. Three of them decide to fly off. How many are left?

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                                Navin
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                DavidCrow wrote: have no plans on changing. Hope you make frequent backups of all the data on your machine. :-D If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.

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                                • N Navin

                                  DavidCrow wrote: have no plans on changing. Hope you make frequent backups of all the data on your machine. :-D If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.

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                                  Todd C Wilson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Actually, I would have said "I hope your company has industrial espionage insurance".


                                  Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                                  • N Navin

                                    DavidCrow wrote: have no plans on changing. Hope you make frequent backups of all the data on your machine. :-D If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.

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                                    David Crow
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Heck, you could make that statement about anything. If you use a computer, there is always going to be some level of risk involved, more with some folks, less with others. The problem is not with the products but with the people that use them.


                                    Five birds are sitting on a fence. Three of them decide to fly off. How many are left?

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                                    • D David Crow

                                      John Theal wrote: Does anyone else use an email client other than Outlook?? Other folks in my company use Lotus Notes, probably because we are an IBM shop and our e-mail server is a Domino box. I use Outlook and have no plans on changing.


                                      Five birds are sitting on a fence. Three of them decide to fly off. How many are left?

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                                      Ed K
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      We are forced to use Notes too! We also keep a utility on hand to kill Notes since it freezes and crashes so often. :mad: I also try to keep Notes backed up. I use Outlook at home. Love it! ed Regulation is the substitution of error for chance.

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                                      • T Todd C Wilson

                                        "At some point, keystroke recorders got installed on several machines at Valve. Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. This recorder is apparently a customized version of RemoteAnywhere created to infect Valve (at least it hasn't been seen anywhere else, and isn't detected by normal virus scanning tools)." -- Gabe Newell, talking about the Half-Life 2 source code leak. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to everyone STILL insisting on using a product that is so overwhelmingly prone to mis-use. Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most.


                                        Todd C. Wilson (meme@nopcode.com) NOPcode.com Visual Face Lift: Skinning for apps Listen! Audio Server: Be the music "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free:  Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.  This is the Way." - Chuang-Tzu "Zen in the Martial Arts"

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                                        Chris Maunder
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        What a great sig! Using Outlook is like smoking, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care for the most. - Todd C. Wilson cheers, Chris Maunder

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                                        • M Michael P Butler

                                          Todd C. Wilson wrote: Our speculation is that these were done via a buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane. So is this an new exploit or did they just forgot to install a patch? You'd think Valve would know about patches... there were enough of them for half-life ;-) I don't know much about the RemoteAnywhere exploit but surely a well configured firewall would prevent it. It seems to me that Valve got done because of lax security and are just trying to deflect the blame - much like we all do when we get stung. Michael 'Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.' - The Doctor: The Wheel in Space

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                                          Navin
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          You have good points, though I only think you're half right. Yes, it is impertive to ensure you have good secuirty mechanisms in place. However some products are more vulnerable to exploits than others. Since Outlook insists on having functionality to do everything from sending e-mail to fixing the leak in the kitchen sink*, the likelyhood of undiscovered security vulnerabilities in the product is high. Also, some companies (*cough* Microsoft *cough*) insist on NOT rolling out complete products that include all the latest patches, so installation means installing, and then patching, usually several times. So yes, well configured security is a must, but sometimes that is very difficult to do based on your choice of products. * Although, I could use that particular feature, not sure if Outlook is less expensive than your average plumber... If your nose runs and your feet smell, then you're built upside down.

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